The Willow Creek Wolves

Chapter Three

The dinner is being held in the pack barn. It's an oversized building we use for any special occasion. Plenty of room for dining tables, mingling and dancing. I'm usually very excited for whatever event calls for use of the barn. Tonight, not so much.

"Don't you want to get dressed?" Brielle asks as I come down the stairs. My hair is still in its braid and I'm wearing the same clothes from this morning with the addition of some dangling earrings. When I reach the foot of the stairs, I grab my army green duster jacket and throw it on.

"Nope," I say. "You look nice enough for the both of us."

She looks beautiful in her navy-blue dress with her hair softly curled. She's even gone as far as to put on a little blush and eyeshadow.

"Come on, I'll drive."

Brielle and I lock up the house and hop into my clunker of a pickup truck. I bought the truck for my eighteenth birthday at an estate sale in the next town over. That was ten years ago already and it still hasn't given out on me.

"Are you nervous?" Brielle asks as the truck roars to life.

I back us out of the gravel drive and aim for town, calculating my answer. All day I haven't been able to shake that dream and the residual anxiety it left me with. Now with our Alpha's announcement, my body feels like it's made up of live wires.

"Is it obvious?"

She smiles and nudged my shoulder. "I know you like the back of my hand, Lora. Your wolf has been pacing all day."

She's right, of course. My more animal side has been on edge ever since that dream.

"It'll be okay," I breathe, attempting to reassure both of us.

"Well, we're about to find out."

Just up the road, the barn looms, surrounded by cars and shifters making their way inside. Some of them I recognize. The ones I don't stand out like sore thumbs.

The newcomers are all so... military. I only notice men but all of their faces are clean-shaven. None of them have hair any longer than the top of their ears. And they're all so... fit. Somehow, they all look like models.

Brielle makes an appreciative noise as a group of men walk past my parked truck. "Makes me wish I was a wolf shifter."

I snort and roll my eyes. "We're here to make introductions and observe for the alphas. Not drool all over them."

Brielle flings her door open and steps out of the truck. "Oh, we'll observe all right."

Brielle is quiet more often than not. I imagined that has a lot to do with her past. But when her personality comes out, it comes out big and always makes me laugh.

Hopping out of the truck, I follow her inside, my caution immediately spiking. Not for any reason in particular, just because it's in my nature. I don't know these newcomers at all. As far as I'm concerned, anything could happen.

Inside the barn, the dinner is already in full swing. Music is playing from the speakers, just loud enough that people can still have easy conversation. Hanging lights dangle from the rafters, painting the tables and wood floors in a warm glow. Rows of food sit on tables buffet style and there's already a long line to make a plate.

Some of the pack children playing tag bustle by me, bumping into my legs as they go. From across the room, one of their mothers scolds them for running, but it's lighthearted. This is family. This is pack.

At the two tables closest to the doors, some of the newcomers sit watching everyone cautiously. It's clear that a few have been sent beforehand to scout the party and deem everything safe for the alpha.

All of the men are dressed in jeans and various shades of neutral-colored button-downs. Their eyes are sharp, faces hard and unsmiling.

"Well, they seem like fun," I say a little too loudly.

A few of them look my way, but I ignore their reactions. I'm not here to make a great impression. I'm here to make sure my pack remains true to its essence. Willow Creek is a place for everyone, families, misfits, even rogues looking to change their ways. The shifters here are real. We laugh and cry together. We don't have time to put on airs for anyone.

If these newcomers can't take a joke, then they're in the wrong town.

Brielle grabs my arm and drags me toward the back of the barn and further into the sea of shifters. As we pass by, many of them reach out and touch my arms or back lightly, smiles on their faces. These people are my home. In the absence of our Alphas, I'll do whatever I have to do to protect them.

"Look who beat us here," Brielle says, sarcasm in her voice.

I look toward the table she's leading us too. Caleb is already there, a shit-eater grin on his handsome face. At a whopping six-foot-five, he looks far too big for the chair he's sitting in.

"It appears to me that someone owes me ten bucks," he holds out his hand, palm up.

I roll my eyes at him and fish through my wallet for the bill. I made a bet with Caleb at the last social event that Brielle and I would actually beat him to something. Being prompt isn't exactly a trait I'm known for around here.

"It doesn't count if you camp here all night," I grumble.

He shrugs. "You're just pissy because you lost and you don't like all the new faces around your territory."

Well... he isn't wrong.

Brielle takes the seat right next to him as I slap the ten in his massive hand.

"Take it easy on her, Caleb. Her wolf has been on edge today."

That sweeps the smile right off Caleb's face. For all his teasing, he's one of my best friends. One of the few males I really trust. We've been friends since we were kids and he treats me like the sister he doesn't have. Growing up in a house of five boys, I became just another one of the guys as we came up together.

"What's wrong? Do you have a bad feeling about the Blood Moons?"

I shrug. I want to deny that my wolf is anxious, but it's true. I've been restless and agitated all day. "I'm not sure yet."

"Say what we want about them, but they sure are eye candy." Brielle is nearly drooling as she stares toward the front of the barn.

The look that crosses Caleb's face is absolutely one of offense. "They're shifters just like us, Brielle. We're all unnaturally good-looking."

I snort. "I don't know. She kind of has a point. Like them or not, they're hot."

Caleb's cheeks turn pink. "You only think that because you grew up with everyone in this town. No one does it for you because we're all like family."

Hmm... Interesting thought. Maybe he's right about that. In fact, I open my mouth to tell him so just as the barn doors swing open and our Alpha's walk in followed by three men. I barely have time to look at them before a heady scent punches me in the gut. I nearly double over from the effect of it. My whole body flushes with heat and adrenaline. Never in my life have I experienced something like this.

I lift my nose into the air, drinking it in. It's the smell of crisp fall days; autumn leaves, cinnamon, and baked apples. My wolf is scraping to get to the surface, to run to that intoxicating scent.

"Lora?" Caleb and Brielle are saying. One of them reaches out and shakes my shoulder, jostling me a little. But it has no effect. It's as if I'm submerged underwater, my hearing muffled, my world spinning. All that matters is that scent.

My eyes swing up toward the barn doors, just past my Alpha's who still haven't noticed that anything is wrong with me. And there he is. I'm not sure how, but I know that it's him. He's just as beautiful and terrifying in human form. 

Those golden eyes stare right back into mine.

The grey wolf has found me.